South Bend, IN news and local guide

The first permanent white settlers were fur traders. Pierre Frieschutz Navarre arrived in 1820 for John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company and settled near today's downtown, and Alexis Coquillard, another company agent, set up a post called the Big St. Joseph Station. Lathrop Minor Taylor opened a post for Samuel Hanna and Company in 1827. By 1829 Coquillard and Taylor were the town's leaders, and they won a post office, first named Southold, with Taylor as postmaster. A year later the name was changed to South Bend, probably because several other places were already called Southold. In 1831 South Bend was laid out as the seat of St. Joseph County, with 128 residents. Horatio Chapin arrived that year, opened the first general store with goods from out of state and helped found the first church and Sunday school. The town was formally established in 1835, with Chapin as the first president of its board of trustees. In 1841 Schuyler Colfax, later vice president under Ulysses S. Grant, was appointed to county office there. Sources Wikipedia: South Bend, Indiana